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The title came in being at about the time that the elves undertook their Great Journey to Aman with Finwë being its first. The title continued in Middle-earth after the Ñoldor returned in pursuit of Morgoth. Fëanor or the eldest of his sons could have claimed the title but with his death Maedhros waived his claim to the title and ceded it to House of Fingolfin, out of respect and friendship with them. There were four legitimate High Kings in Middle-earth beginning with Fingolfin and ending with Gil-galad at the end of Second Age, lasting over four-thousand years. Turgon's relatives Eärendil and then Elrond could have made a claim to the title but never did. It is possible that the High Kingship passed exclusively through the male line; if this is the case, then the title became effectively extinct with the death of Gil-galad in Middle-earth. Eärendil and his descendants belonged to the human House of Hador .[1]